Mithridates
02-02-2008, 10:31 PM
There was an editorial way back in 2002 in a Canadian newspaper about Paul Martin, the finance minister at the time and a person that has always reminded me of McCain. They're not exactly the same of course, but both of them were loved by the media, way less impressive in person, and spent years building up their roles in an attempt to win the leadership after losing the first time. Someone should rewrite this article a bit to make it applicable to McCain. I'll highlight the parts in bold that are particularly relevant.
As a Canadian politician health care and whatnot are particularly important, but if you replace health care with Islamic fundamentalism and the military they're pretty much the same.
The incredible shrinking Martin
Saturday, December 28, 2002
It must have occurred by now to even the most adoring of Paul Martin's
admirers that during 2002 he lost his most valuable asset. For years his
appeal rested on the fact that he was not Jean Chrétien. He became famous as
the unChrétien, symbol of our wish to be rid of the Prime Minister. As a
rebel Martin was appealing, but he's no longer a rebel. The minute Chrétien
announced he was retiring, much of Martin's value disappeared.
Eventually we may decide we need him far less than we did last winter, when
it seemed likely that Chrétien might be Prime Minister for life. Since 1993
the citizens have mostly accepted Martin's reputation as a man of character
and acumen, but they are sure to scrutinize it with more care in the next
few months. Till this year he had, of course, one of the great jobs in
Canada, though it's rarely acknowledged as such. Canadians, a kindly people,
are kindest of all to finance ministers. The Canadian dollar fell to
pathetic levels under Michael Wilson and under Martin, yet millions of
Canadians who have been relatively impoverished by this process have
graciously refrained from fixing the blame. Canada regards both men as
first-class finance ministers and rarely even mentions them in connection
with our currency, as if somehow money and the Department of Finance were
unconnected. This is tolerance carried to the level of masochism. (If the
dollar falls to 50 American cents on John Manley's watch, will we decide
he's the best Finance Minister ever?)
For now, Martin is resting on his accomplishments in Finance. If he has
other thoughts, he keeps them to himself. In his new life he's neither a
Cabinet minister nor a backbencher in any normal sense -- no previous
backbencher has had the Liberal party in his pocket. He's become a new
figure in Canadian history, a kind of bench-strength prime minister. To go
with this unique role, he's developed an exceptional way of presenting
himself. He's become the Candidate as Enigma, the would-be leader whose
plans we must imagine or take on faith. (He may be hoping we believe that
silent rivers run deep.) Instead of articulating his ideas, he just appears
on TV a lot, and socializes with the people who want him to be PM. He's
simultaneously omnipresent and circumspect, a boring combination. We may get
sick of him being prime minister before he takes office.
Defence, the most important issue to emerge in this century, exists on the
margin of his consciousness, so far as we can tell. Terror stalks the world,
Canada shames itself by doing little, and the man likeliest to direct the
government brings nothing whatever to this issue. He seems in fact to have
lost interest in the usual tasks of the federal government: foreign policy,
trade, and protecting the currency, as well as defence. Instead he's
developed (just like Chrétien) a passionate concern for provincial
responsibilities, the work Ottawa does least well. He's not only concerned
about health care and education; if we believe his acolytes, he also wants
Ottawa to shoulder the problems of the cities, a plan that would open vast
new arenas of federal incompetence and corruption.
Even those journalists committed to demonstrating his importance often find
themselves with nothing to say. Stephen Handelman, while anointing Martin
the Canadian Newsmaker of the Year in the current Time magazine, uses most
of his space detailing Chrétien's blunders and in the end tells us little
about his main subject except that "the nation is waiting for the real Paul
Martin to emerge from the shadows."
We may wait a long time. When given the chance to speak for himself (in an
accompanying interview conducted by Handelman and Steven Frank), Martin
makes everything worse. Asked what the next leader's priorities should be,
he says health and education, then adds "fiscal discipline." He rattles on
for a while about health care and doesn't even mention defence. Finally an
interviewer asks whether there should be an increase in defence spending. Hi
s answer: "There's going to have to be. How much will depend very heavily
upon the conjunction of the upcoming foreign policy and military reviews."
Is that a Canadian politician or what? His plans depend on "reviews" to be
conducted (or perhaps not) in the last Chrétien year, over which he'll have
little influence. The new leader promises to carry out the plans of the old.
There may be less to him than meets the eye. Once there was a Roman of great
promise, the Emperor Galba (68-69 CE). He was universally admired for
intelligence and competence, until he made the tragic error of assuming
power. His reign lasted a matter of months, and he's now chiefly remembered
for inspiring an epigram by Tacitus, the great historian: "No one would have
doubted his ability to reign had he never been emperor." That line perfectly
described the end of John Turner's career. We may have reason to think of it
again in the near future. Is Paul Martin, perhaps, a bubble waiting to pop?
Robert Fulford
The end result, of course, was that Paul Martin became a very unremarkable prime minister and lost the next election a bit over a year later.
As a Canadian politician health care and whatnot are particularly important, but if you replace health care with Islamic fundamentalism and the military they're pretty much the same.
The incredible shrinking Martin
Saturday, December 28, 2002
It must have occurred by now to even the most adoring of Paul Martin's
admirers that during 2002 he lost his most valuable asset. For years his
appeal rested on the fact that he was not Jean Chrétien. He became famous as
the unChrétien, symbol of our wish to be rid of the Prime Minister. As a
rebel Martin was appealing, but he's no longer a rebel. The minute Chrétien
announced he was retiring, much of Martin's value disappeared.
Eventually we may decide we need him far less than we did last winter, when
it seemed likely that Chrétien might be Prime Minister for life. Since 1993
the citizens have mostly accepted Martin's reputation as a man of character
and acumen, but they are sure to scrutinize it with more care in the next
few months. Till this year he had, of course, one of the great jobs in
Canada, though it's rarely acknowledged as such. Canadians, a kindly people,
are kindest of all to finance ministers. The Canadian dollar fell to
pathetic levels under Michael Wilson and under Martin, yet millions of
Canadians who have been relatively impoverished by this process have
graciously refrained from fixing the blame. Canada regards both men as
first-class finance ministers and rarely even mentions them in connection
with our currency, as if somehow money and the Department of Finance were
unconnected. This is tolerance carried to the level of masochism. (If the
dollar falls to 50 American cents on John Manley's watch, will we decide
he's the best Finance Minister ever?)
For now, Martin is resting on his accomplishments in Finance. If he has
other thoughts, he keeps them to himself. In his new life he's neither a
Cabinet minister nor a backbencher in any normal sense -- no previous
backbencher has had the Liberal party in his pocket. He's become a new
figure in Canadian history, a kind of bench-strength prime minister. To go
with this unique role, he's developed an exceptional way of presenting
himself. He's become the Candidate as Enigma, the would-be leader whose
plans we must imagine or take on faith. (He may be hoping we believe that
silent rivers run deep.) Instead of articulating his ideas, he just appears
on TV a lot, and socializes with the people who want him to be PM. He's
simultaneously omnipresent and circumspect, a boring combination. We may get
sick of him being prime minister before he takes office.
Defence, the most important issue to emerge in this century, exists on the
margin of his consciousness, so far as we can tell. Terror stalks the world,
Canada shames itself by doing little, and the man likeliest to direct the
government brings nothing whatever to this issue. He seems in fact to have
lost interest in the usual tasks of the federal government: foreign policy,
trade, and protecting the currency, as well as defence. Instead he's
developed (just like Chrétien) a passionate concern for provincial
responsibilities, the work Ottawa does least well. He's not only concerned
about health care and education; if we believe his acolytes, he also wants
Ottawa to shoulder the problems of the cities, a plan that would open vast
new arenas of federal incompetence and corruption.
Even those journalists committed to demonstrating his importance often find
themselves with nothing to say. Stephen Handelman, while anointing Martin
the Canadian Newsmaker of the Year in the current Time magazine, uses most
of his space detailing Chrétien's blunders and in the end tells us little
about his main subject except that "the nation is waiting for the real Paul
Martin to emerge from the shadows."
We may wait a long time. When given the chance to speak for himself (in an
accompanying interview conducted by Handelman and Steven Frank), Martin
makes everything worse. Asked what the next leader's priorities should be,
he says health and education, then adds "fiscal discipline." He rattles on
for a while about health care and doesn't even mention defence. Finally an
interviewer asks whether there should be an increase in defence spending. Hi
s answer: "There's going to have to be. How much will depend very heavily
upon the conjunction of the upcoming foreign policy and military reviews."
Is that a Canadian politician or what? His plans depend on "reviews" to be
conducted (or perhaps not) in the last Chrétien year, over which he'll have
little influence. The new leader promises to carry out the plans of the old.
There may be less to him than meets the eye. Once there was a Roman of great
promise, the Emperor Galba (68-69 CE). He was universally admired for
intelligence and competence, until he made the tragic error of assuming
power. His reign lasted a matter of months, and he's now chiefly remembered
for inspiring an epigram by Tacitus, the great historian: "No one would have
doubted his ability to reign had he never been emperor." That line perfectly
described the end of John Turner's career. We may have reason to think of it
again in the near future. Is Paul Martin, perhaps, a bubble waiting to pop?
Robert Fulford
The end result, of course, was that Paul Martin became a very unremarkable prime minister and lost the next election a bit over a year later.